The potato diet: could it help you lose nearly a stone in seven days?

The potato diet could help you lose nearly a stone in just a week – but how does it work and is it safe?

When it comes to diets there is some wacky advice that we never thought possible. The potato diet? Surely that can’t be a thing – right?

Well, it turns out that it is.

But how on earth does eating potatoes all day work to lose weight and is it safe for your body?

Here’s the lowdown on the potato diet plan and if and how you can fit it into your healthy living plan.

What is the potato diet?

As the name suggests, the potato diet involves eating nothing but – you guessed it – potatoes.

It’s considered a crash diet, as it’s not a balanced diet and does not supply you with a wide range of nutrients and vitamins, but case studies suggest it can bring results in a short amount of time.

Potato diet plan: how do you follow the potato diet?

The rules are simple. You can freely use herbs, spices and oils to season them and they can be boiled, baked or mashed – as long as they’re not chips.

The amount of potatoes you should be eating everyday is two to five pounds.

Credit: Getty Images

Sweet potatoes or yams are not included in your potato allowance.

Another don’t is heavy exercise, so you’ll have to forgo gym visits if you decide to give the potato diet a go.

Potato diet results

While not recommended by experts for a long period of time, the diet seems to work during a short period of time.

Credit: Channel 4

On Channel 4’s How to Lose Weight Well, a woman named Caroline managed to lose 12lb over the course of the seven days on the potato diet, while her friend Charmaine lost just 4lb doing the cabbage soup diet.

Speaking about the plan before she saw the results, Caroline confessed: ‘I’m literally sick and tired of potatoes.’

But when she saw the weight she’d lost, she said: ‘I can’t believe the potatoes!’; while her friend added: ‘I did lose 4lb which is good for one week.

‘I would rather have just had potatoes for one week if I was going to lose 12lb.’

Experts’ opinion

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While you may be tempted to give the diet a try, beware experts advise crash diets are not recommended for longer than seven days in a row.

Host Dr Xand van Tulleken said: ‘Do remember that, although popular, crash dieting is frowned upon by many health professionals for being unbalanced and losing a lot of weight quickly can be dangerous and might not offer long-lasting results.’

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